RoadWatch: Roundup

October 2019

Welcome to our monthly Austroads RoadWatch: Roundup for October. Discover our latest news, published reports, Guide updates, webinars and events.

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How ready are Australasian roads for automated driving?

Austroads has released a series of reports on a project that examined the readiness of Australian and New Zealand highways and freeways to support automated vehicles. “The project involved an extensive road audit that assessed how well vehicle machine vision systems could interpret more than 8 million line segments and 8 000 signs on a 25 000 km sample of the Australasian road network,” said John Wall, Program Manager, Future Vehicles and Technology, Austroads.

“This followed on from a review of available literature and engaging with local and international industry stakeholders to become better informed on the latest technology and standards for automated vehicles worldwide,” said John. “We also interviewed road agencies, and found lack of clear guidance was the most important factor preventing them from updating detailed asset standards to reflect the needs of automated vehicles."

Assessing long-term performance of polymer modified binders used in sprayed seals

Austroads has published the results of a study to test the long-term performance of polymer modified binders used in sprayed seals in Australia.

The resistance of non-modified bituminous binders to premature ageing has been assessed in Australasia using the durability test in the Australian/New Zealand specification AS/NZS 2341.13. This test, however, cannot assess the ageing performance of polymer modified binders and uses some equipment that can no longer be obtained.

“Austroads commissioned research into developing a long-term ageing or durability test for polymer modified binders based on test equipment that’s widely available,” said Dr Young Choi Senior Technology Leader, ARRB and lead author of the report. “We focused on using international devices, namely the pressure ageing vessel and the dynamic shear rheometer, to firstly age and then test binder samples.”

Improved methods of using pavement deflection data in the design of rehabilitation treatments

This report explains new methods of using pavement deflection data that were developed in the context of pavement structural rehabilitation treatment design. The report focuses on two main components: assessing the potential use of traffic speed deflectometer (TSD) deflection for the design of pavement structural treatments, and formalising the pavement layer moduli back-calculation algorithm for use in mechanistic‑empirical pavement treatment design.

Download the report

3.43 million Australians ride bikes for transport or recreation each week

Around 3.43 million Australians ride bikes for transport or recreation in a typical week, according to the National Cycling Participation Survey, a standardised survey that has been repeated every two years since 2011. The 2019 results indicate that cycling is one of the most common forms of physical activity in Australia.

More than 80% of people cycle for recreation, while slightly under one-third use their bikes for transport, mainly for journeys to work, education, the shops or to visit friends.

Cycling is especially popular in the ACT where 93,700 residents (22.2%) ride a bicycle in a typical week. Cycling rates in the Northern Territory are also much higher than the national average, with 21.3% of residents cycling in a week.

Austroads supports increasing heavy vehicle widths to 2550 mm

Austroads has completed a study considering the optimum heavy freight vehicle dimensions in Australia. The evidence supports increasing the maximum allowable heavy freight vehicle width from 2500 mm to 2550 mm (including attachments).

New Zealand has allowed heavy freight vehicles to operate at 2550 mm without restriction since 2017 and there has been no reported or anecdotal evidence that the wider vehicles are more likely to be involved in a crash.

Most of Australia’s trading partners regulate a maximum heavy freight vehicle width of at least 2550 mm and many allow 2600 mm for refrigerated vehicles. This means that most imported heavy freight vehicles must be modified to comply with Australian standards before use in Australia.

Upcoming Austroads webinars

Infrastructure Changes to Support Automated Vehicles on Rural and Metropolitan Highways and Freeways

Thursday 7 November, 1pm AEDT

This webinar will provide an overview of the gaps in current physical and digital road infrastructure to support the operation of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) on highways and freeways in Australia and New Zealand, with a focus on infrastructure quality standards.

No charge but registration is essential.

Can’t make the live session? Register and we’ll send you a link to the recording.

Latest webinar recordings

Vehicles as a Workplace

This webinar, presented on 9 October 2019, provides an overview of the Vehicles as a Workplace: Work Health & Safety Guide from a safety, regulatory and industry perspective.

Key Freight Routes – Heavy Vehicle Usage Data Project

This webinar, presented on 3 October 2019, provides an overview of an Austroads project that analysed telematics data to explore how heavy vehicles use Key Freight Routes.

National View on Regional and Remote Road Safety

This webinar, presented on 1 October 2019, provides an overview of the causes and contributing factors behind road crashes in regional and remote areas, and strategic guidance to identify the best approaches to eliminate harm.

View all our past webinars online www.austroads.com.au/webinars.

World Road Association updates

Prize for Safety of Road Users and Workers

Austroads proudly sponsored the Prize for Safety of Road Users and Workers at the World Road Association Conference held in Abu Dhabi from 6-10 October.

The prize was awarded to Alberto Mendoza and Maria Cadengo from Mexico for their paper: Efforts in Mexico to implement a Road Safety Audit System. This paper recommends making the provisions of the Road Audit Safety Manual a compulsory requirement for all road design projects. Watch Austroads' video about why we sponsored the prize.

Sustainable Multimodality in Urban Regions

This recent report explores the transport links and access to education, employment, care and recreation needed by low density regions on the outskirts of cities, and identifies the complexities faced by road administrations in various countries.

Other recent research

BITRE: Road deaths Australia - monthly bulletins

This monthly bulletin contains current counts and summaries of road crash deaths and fatal road crashes in Australia. It is published on BITRE's website on or around the 14th of each month. Data are sourced from the road traffic or police authorities in each jurisdiction.

New Zealand Transport Agency: Factors affecting cycling levels of service

This report provides a user-centred approach for assessing existing and proposed facilities that would enable better-informed decisions about planning and designing bicycle facilities in New Zealand.

New Zealand Transport Agency: Urban Transport Modelling in New Zealand – Data, Practice and Resourcing

This report examines the current status of transportation modelling systems employed by the New Zealand government and summarises the results of the Household Travel Survey.

iRAP webinars

iRAP is hosting two free webinars which will be of interest to Austroads' members and road safety practitioners:

Planning and procuring an iRAP project - Tuesday 22 October, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm UTC+11

Establishing and developing an iRAP program in your country or region - Wednesday 23 October, 6:00 pm - 7.30 pm UTC+11

Time zones for Australia and New Zealand are provided on the registration pages, as well as time zones for China, India, Spain, the UK and South Africa.

Upcoming conferences

ITS World Congress, Singapore, 21-25 October 2019

4th International Driverless Vehicle Summit, Sydney, 27-29 October

2019 AGS Seminar: Tunnelling under Adelaide, Adelaide, 28 October 2019

NEW ALGA National Local Roads and Transport Congress 2019, Adelaide Hills, 18-20 November 2019

International Cycling Safety Conference, Brisbane, 18-20 November 2019

Corrosion and Prevention 2019, Melbourne, 24-27 November 2019

Safer Roads 2020, Virginia, USA, 12-14 May 2020

ITS Asia Pacific Forum, Brisbane, 25-28 May 2020

IABSE Congress, Christchurch, 2-4 September 2020